yummy cheesy bread sticks

So, you want bread for dinner, have some dough in the fridge, but just don’t have time to shape and rise and bake it……
Have I got a plan for you! Yummy cheesy bread sticks!

1. Start with about a loaf’s worth of bread dough that’s been hanging out in the fridge.
2. Plop it out and spread it to about a 9 x 13 size (small enough to fit on a cookie sheet or piece of parchment with an inch or more around the edges)
3. Use plenty of olive oil when you spread it out, and then put some chopped garlic or other seasoning on it, as desired. (The Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming spices are nice on this) Preheat your oven to about 400. Run a pizza cutter across your dough the short direction about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart. If you do this soon after you pat it out, the dough will pull back a little from the cut and your breadsticks will be separated a little bit, which can be good or bad, depending on your preference.
4. Oh, did I mention that this is all a whole lot easier if you pat/pull your dough out on a sheet of parchment, or lacking that, just do it in the cooking pan (oil underneath first).
5. So, when you remember your dough and the oven is preheated, then you bake it. I like to go for about 10 minutes, then cover with top with shredded cheese, and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes.

These can be served out of the oven, and will totally disappear. An, start to finish (assuming that you’ve got dough in the fridge to begin with) are super fast compared to bread! These you can make after you get home from school/work and still have with dinner.

olive oil salt bread

Bittman, BRW p 830

This is really just a giant biscuit made with olive oil. Bittman says that this is the fastest way to get fresh bread on the table, but if you go through the trouble of cutting the bread into pieces (that is to say, you make biscuits) the cooking time is enough faster that the total time is less.

That said, this is spectacular if you need fresh bread to go with your wine and cheese on short notice, which is most Fridays for us. The wine chills, the cheese warms up, and you take a shower (because you just played ultimate). Then everything is ready for you to eat and watch a USA TV series or play Rock Band.

cinnamon raisin bread

King Arthur Flour cinnamon raisin bread

some change to the flour

• 2 c white whole wheat
• 2 tbs gluten
• 1.5 c bread flour
• all-purpose flour for the rest

dough ended up wetter than I would have liked

made a tasty bread

it took forever to rise, and then I let it rise for too long

need to watch out for the second rise

cinnamon rolls

I looked through a number of cinnamon roll recipes, made a few of them, and pieced together one that came close to what I was looking for.

For the dough, I used one of the King Arthur Flour recipes.

The size of roll I wanted was larger than the King Arthur Flour’s. So I made a more dough per square inch of pan and made each roll taller (by about 30 percent).

A more significant difference is the filling, however. For the filling:

• 1.5 c brown sugar, packed
• 2 c flour
• 2/3 c butter
• 2 tbs cinnamon

I simply mix it all together. Half of the filling I put in the cinnamon roll and half I put in the bottom of the pan. I think that, in the future, I may not put any butter in the filling that goes into the rolls and double the amount that goes in the bottom of the pan. The rolls were a little too flaky—I like them doughy—and the glaze in the bottom of the pan wasn’t so much a glaze as a crusty coating.

Also, I use a cream cheese frosting.

cream cheese frosting

• 3 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2.5 c powdered sugar

1. mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla
2. gradually mix in powdered sugar until smooth
3. beat in milk, 1 tsp at time until the consistency you want

French-style country bread

I was looking for a new recipe to make, as we’d figured out the sandwich bread recipe. The French-style country bread at King Arthur Flour seemed to be a pretty solid recipe, so I decided to check it out.

I made a number of minor changes to the recipe. The ingredients that I actually used are the following:

sponge

• 8 oz water
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 6 1/4 oz white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tbs gluten

dough

• All of the sponge starter (above)
• 8 oz water
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1 lb bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

The sponge rose for about 6 hrs. I baked the bread in my cast iron pot. With about 30 min left in the bread’s second rise, I preheated the oven to 450 F with the pot in it. After baking for 20 min, I took the lid off. This process—the same as I use for no-knead bread—gave it a nice crust. I’ve taken to baking all my bread to an internal temperature of 205 F, so I don’t know how long it took to bake.

Juliana said that this was the best bread that we’ve made to date.

biscuits from Gold Medal bag

I’ve recently started cooking off of the ingredient packaging. For example, I bought self-rising flour, and made the biscuits on the back. It was incredibly simple, which one of the beauties of self-rising flour, of course. Honestly, they were the best biscuits that we’ve made. Lard was definitely the best, but in consideration for vegetarian friends we’ve also used.

• 2 1/2 c (15 1/2 oz) self-rising flour
• 1/2 c fat (butter, lard, shortening)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 c dried buttermilk
• 3/4 – 1 c water

Put all ingredients except water in freezer until everyone woke up. Preheated oven to 450 F. Cut butter into flour. Mixed in water. Rolled biscuits out to about 1/2” (we always make them thinner than I intend to) and cut them to 1 1/2” diameter. Baked biscuits for 13 min.

flour matters

I still make the half whole wheat sandwich bread. However, I finally finished off the old flour that had been around for at least a year. For the last two loaves I’ve used flour from King Arthur Flour, fresh from the store.

Wow! It really makes a difference. The last two loaves are the most delicious I’ve ever made.

half whole wheat sandwich bread

I’m trying the half white wheat sandwich bread recipe with molasses instead of honey and whole wheat flour instead of half whole wheat. Everything just worked. I think that we’ve got sandwich bread dialed in.

• 9-10 oz warm water
• 1 1/2 tbs molasses
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbs oil
• 8 oz bread flour
• 8 oz whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c dry milk

1. I add all the wet ingredients to my stand mixer and set it to 2, just to dissolve the honey and hydrate yeast a bit.
2. I measure all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix them, then add them to the wet and run the stand mixer at 2 until well mixed.
3. Once all the dry stuff is combined, I set the mixer to 4 min at 4 to knead.
4. After kneading, I dump it into a large, greased bowl and let it rise for 1-2 hrs. I shape it into a log and put it into a greased loaf pan.
5. I let it rise for 30 min or so, then turn the oven on to 350F.
6. Once it’s risen to about 1 1/2” above the pan edge, I put it in the oven and bake for about 40 min, or until the temperature is at least 195F.

half white wheat sandwich bread

The wedding gifts have started showing up very early—months before the actual event. One of the gifts was a Cuisinart stand mixer, so I’ve been making bread regularly. I figured that the first loaf I should really get down is a standard sandwich loaf.

The Bittman recipe and the King Arthur Flour recipe are almost the same. I modify it slightly by replacing half the bread flour with white whole wheat flour and adding a tablespoon of gluten. I’ve made this recipe four times in the last two weeks and each time it’s more-or-less perfect (the shape sometimes gives away it’s homemade identity).

• 9-10 oz warm water
• 1 1/2 tbs honey
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbs soft butter
• 8 oz bread flour
• 8 oz white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c dry milk

1. I add all the wet ingredients to my stand mixer and set it to 2, just to dissolve the honey and hydrate yeast a bit.
2. I measure all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix them, then add them to the wet and run the stand mixer at 2 until well mixed.
3. Once all the dry stuff is combined, I set the mixer to 4 min at 4 to knead.
4. After kneading, I dump it into a large, greased bowl and let it rise for 1-2 hrs. I shape it into a log and put it into a greased loaf pan.
5. I let it rise for 30 min or so, then turn the oven on to 350F.
6. Once it’s risen to about 1 1/2” above the pan edge, I put it in the oven and bake for about 40 min, or until the temperature is at least 195F.

cinnamon-raisin swirl bread

rich golden bread, HCE, p 861-862
cinnamon swirl bread, NBR, p 730-732

I made dough as described in HCE. I rolled, sugared, and shaped the dough as described in NBR (including a half cup of raisins into the cinnamon sugar). I baked at about 375F until the temp hit 200F.